Exterior

I have some gorgeous, perfectly shabby houses for you today. It seems I have entered a dry spell as far as motivation to blog goes, though I have had no shortage of inspiration lately. Since I became a vendor at an antique store earlier this month a lot of my “mojo” has been going towards schemes related to it; sourcing, buying, pricing, dreaming, etc. I have had dry spells like this before and still came back full force, so we’ll see where this takes us.

In the mean time if you’d like to keep seeing what I’m into, I’m more active than ever on Pinterest and Keep. If you’re not familiar with Keep (I’m assuming you’re familiar with Pinterest because come on now) it’s sort of a similar concept except everything on it is a purchasable item. You can “keep” items from any online store. I save virtually everything that catches my eye, so there’s a lot on there. I actually have more followers on Keep than on Pinterest which baffles me a little. But it kind of points to my strength: shopping. 😉

I am forever daydreaming about moving to the country. Fresh air, open fields, long country roads, and beautiful country homes that show their age and offer a simplicity and sense of calm. Just being surrounded by more nature would improve my daily mood.

I’m not quite as in to all white rooms as I used to be but this collection of white serving dishes and linen is a dream. Because everybody needs three big soup tureens and four matching pitchers, right?

I’m not the only one that positively swoons over ragged old perfectly aged architecture, am I? I wish there were any homes as old and classy as this where I live. The US is just too young of a country. I want more old things. I realized that so many of my favorite Etsy shops are selling vintage items from Europe, particularly France. That’s where all the good old stuff is.

Although some new build homes in the country are pretty alluring too!

I hope your weekend is as warm and comfortable as these images make me feel!

It’s not often an exterior shot speaks to me, which is why it’s been eight months since I last posted about them. I’m drawn to many different styles of architecture from the very traditional to some kinds of modern and especially something in between. I love the English Tudor styling of the above home. Such a charming look.

Very modern, very rustic, very amazing. Carefully landscaped lawns can be beautiful but I really do love a wild field. This is the sort of setting I can imagine myself retiring to one day.

I stared at this picture for a long time when I found it the other day. I love this home. It has traditional bones with a colonial feeling, but the gray painted brick makes it modern and fresh. Not to mention the gorgeous black framed windows and adorable circular ones as well. And those dormers! So cute and symmetrical and I want it. Click here to see the picture full size in all its glory and here to see the inside of the home!

Did you take me up on my challenge from earlier this month to get outside, go for a walk, and see about finding some beautiful façades to ogle? For once I took my own advice. There’s a fairly well-to-do neighborhood right next to me that I love to wander through. I even got my boyfriend pointing out houses he liked. Every one I talked about he would follow with, “Should we buy it? Let’s buy that. I’ll buy that for you.” He’s an ambitious (and adorable) guy.

I love how this last one doesn’t look monumental or out of reach, and yet it’s so breathtaking. Wouldn’t you just love to spend some sunny days here? I could go for a lie down in that grass with that doggy by my side.

I am craving the sun hard. It is out today. I need to make an effort to get off my butt and go for a walk. Not only do I spend too much time indoors, my idea of exercise is doing housework. Two birds with one stone, right? If anything could get me outside and moving around it’s the chance to see beautiful architecture.

You can just passively admire, or it’s also fun to look at the details and try to pinpoint what it is that draws you to the façade. When I took a “Housing and Home Furnishings” class a while back I learned a bunch of terms for styles and features of homes. It’s fun to see how many of them I can remember.

Seriously, have you ever done this? If you’re into interior design, chances are you love a beautiful exterior too. There don’t have to be mansions around (though those are certainly beautiful most of the time). There’s probably a nice neighborhood near you that has plenty of lovely homes for you to ogle.

Usually I’m pretty fixated on lovely interiors, but occasionally the exterior of a home sweeps me off my feet. I am not a city girl. Don’t think I ever will be. But if anything could sway me it might be absolutely gorgeous multistory façades like this one. Where does one begin describing all the beautiful things about this London building? The most striking thing to me is the wonderful sharp contrast between the white paint and the warm brick. All that architectural detail is just amazing.

Here’s a totally different kind of multistory dwelling. I can just imagine how nice it would be to drive up to this French home. I am a huge fan of climbing vines and greenery in general, and the abundant plant life on this building is really what makes it. It would be so different, much more bland and unwelcoming, if it weren’t for the plants.

What beautiful surroundings this South Carolinian home has. Normally I’m not so drawn to the flat-fronted colonial look, but this one oozes plenty of charm. If you had to live in one of these three homes, which would you choose? I’m torn between this one and the second one. With a different color on the shutters I’d probably pick the second.